Lewis Hamilton narrowly missed out on a podium finish at the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix in Austin after losing crucial seconds in the opening stages of the race. The Ferrari driver explained that the root cause of his early pace deficit stemmed directly from pursuing suboptimal directions during Friday practice sessions.
Starting from fifth on the grid, the British driver made an impressive move past Isack Hadjar for fourth place at lights out, despite being the sole driver running on used soft tyres for the opening stint. However, he immediately struggled with race pace relative to his front-running rivals.
Hamilton lost 0.277 seconds per lap to team-mate Charles Leclerc and 0.422 seconds per lap to Max Verstappen during that initial stint. Those lost seconds ultimately equated to the exact margin he needed to challenge Verstappen for third position at the checkered flag.
According to the seven-time world champion, the primary issue was a severe lack of front-end rotation caused by incorrect set-up paths pursued during free practice. He noted that the team went the wrong way in FP1 and FP2 before reverting to a better baseline ahead of FP3.
"I was lacking pace in the first two stints, basically. I just couldn't turn the car," Hamilton stated when detailing his handling woes on track.
He pointed out subtle differences in front wing flap settings between his car and Leclerc's, noting that the team continuously under-hit the required wing angle. This resulted in massive washout and unexpected understeer as soon as the race got underway, rendering him powerless to stop his rivals from pulling away.
"Through the pitstops, I added four clicks of front wing angle, the next pitstop I added another four clicks, and even then, I'm still another four clicks too short. And it's crazy to be 12 clicks down," he explained regarding the persistent aerodynamic balance deficit.
While missing out on long-run data during Friday's running put him on the back foot compared to his teammate, Hamilton praised the team for executing brilliant pit stops and race strategy, while emphasizing that his strong pace in the final stint proved the car's true potential.
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